essay

Personality and structure: political acquiesence in Truk

induced political change in the pacific : a symposium • Honolulu • Published In 1965 • Pages: 17-39

By: Swartz, Marc J..

Abstract

In this article, Swartz offers a complex political and psychological explanation for the Chuuk acquiescence to foreign political domination. Although they had a reputation for extreme hostility against outsiders, the Chuuk gave in to German sovereignity without a fight. Why? Swartz argues that traditional chiefs lacked the authority to enforce sanctions both within and between lineages. If a chief tried to enforce a sanction too aggressively, and thereby putting himself above everyone else, he would jeapardize his own welfare upon retirement. Instead sanctions within a lineage were supernaturally enforced by ancestral spirits who would inflict disease on anyone who violated lineage morals. No such sanctions operated for territorial chiefs of interlineage organizations. Therefore aggression against outsiders went unpunished, which according to Swartz caused the Chuuk considerable anxiety. As outsiders the Germans avoided the opprobrium of haughtiness when carrying out pacification, and helped to relieve the Chuuk of their anxiety by providing a necessary external agent of punishment.

HRAF PubDate

1999

Region

Oceania

Sub Region

Micronesia

Document Type

essay

Evaluation

Creator Type

Ethnologist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

Analyst

Ian Skoggard ; 1997

Field Date

1955-1956

Coverage Date

1885-1956

Coverage Place

Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia

Notes

Marc J. Swartz

Pacific Science Congress (10th : 1961 : Honolulu, Hawaii)

Held at the University of Hawaii and sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, and the University of Hawaii

Includes bibliographical references (p. 39)

LCCN

68003796

LCSH

Trukese (Micronesian people)